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Yoshida was born in Yokosuka near Tokyo and educated at Tokyo Imperial University. He entered Japan's diplomatic corps in 1906 just after Japan's victory against Russia in the Russo-Japanese War. He was Japan's ambassador to Italy and the United Kingdom during the 1930s and finally retired from his last appointment as ambassador to London in 1938. Throughout the 1930s and before the war ended in the 1940s, Yoshida continued to participate in Japan's imperialist movement; in early 1945 he was the Munitions Minister, and attempted to construct underground armament-manufacturing facilities to protect them from aerial bombing.[1] After several months' imprisonment in 1945, he became one of Japan's key postwar leaders.

Yoshida became the 45th prime minister on 22 May 1946. His pro-American and pro-British ideals and his knowledge of Western societies, gained through education and political work abroad are what made him the perfect candidate in the eyes of the postwar Allied occupation. He is de facto the last prime minister of the Empire of Japan, before it was abolished following the signing of the constitution.

After being replaced with Tetsu Katayama on 24 May 1947, he returned to the post as the 48th prime minister on 15 October 1948.

Yoshida's policies, emphasizing Japan's economic recovery and a reliance on United States military protection at the expense of independence in foreign affairs, became known as the Yoshida Doctrine and shaped Japanese foreign policy during the Cold War era and beyond.[2]

Under Yoshida's leadership, Japan began to rebuild its lost industrial infrastructure and placed a premium on unrestrained economic growth. Many of these concepts still impact Japan's political and economic policies. However, since the 1970s environmental movement, the bursting of Japan's economic bubble, and the end of the Cold War, Japan has been struggling to redefine its national goals. His administration openly encouraged a "3-S" policy—sports, screen, and sex, a change from the strict pre-war censorship of materials labeled obscene or immoral.

He was retained in three succeeding elections (49th: 16 February 1949; 50th: 30 October 1952; and 51st: 21 May 1953). Power slipped away as he was ousted on 10 December 1954, when he was replaced by Ichirō Hatoyama.